


Hockey!lanna

by constantine



Series: Hockeylanna! [1]
Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: (there's a theme yes but I'm trying to be thorough), Alternate Universe - Hockey, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sports, College Hockey, Gen, Illustrated, National Hockey League, Women's hockey, mix of fic and metafic, mostly about Kel, you don't have to know about hockey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5599339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constantine/pseuds/constantine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“There have been people, all the way through, who would be saying I was only good for one thing at a time.<br/>‘Alright, she’s got that one tough shot to meet, she can pull you up a few points when a game’s tight, but that’s it…’ then ‘alright, she’s learned to fight and she’ll be there if you start any trouble, but….’<br/>Like all my skills went out the window when I got into one role. Jon’s attack dog. That one got to me, yeah.<br/>But I owe a lot to those people.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hockey!lanna

 

 

  _THN-_

_'Lady' Alanna in 2002, at her family home in the Black Hills for the launch of a new youth sports program. (The property has since been donated to the county, who put up a skating rink.)_

 

 

> _"I wasn't about to dress too nice, here in January, but I did bring my jewelry for you all," she says. "And I guess the kids like them."  Understandably: Olympian, IIHF regular, and reigning Stanley Cup champion with the Crown, making for her third win last season, she has more gold than South Dakota's seen in quite some time._
> 
> _But her collection is missing key pieces, as her admitted success in competition hasn't been matched with recognition at home in the NHL: she was passed over for the Lindsay, Hart Memorial, and the Con Smythe awards for value to her team by the Hockey Writers' Association last year, again._
> 
> _"I guess I do mind the Calder, a little," she's admitted. Declared ineligible days before the Awards in 1995, she'll now never have the award for her rookie season, despite her performance. "As for the others, you just play how you play. That's not changing." Which could cover the lightning-fast, entirely offensive style many accuse of leaving the burden on defending on the rest of her team, her embrace of Men's hockey's violence, or the already legendary, if not well-loved, personality._
> 
> _"Yeah, well. You can just say that the character awards probably aren't coming," is all she says to that._
> 
> _So far her only NHL award remains the Con Smythe for total scoring each season, which her coaches say the league will probably have to pry out of her cold fingers._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I had any excuse for this, I've forgotten it.  
> But at some point this summer I thought,
> 
> “What if Alanna played ice hockey?  
> “Not just that, but what if she were the first woman to play an offensive position in the National Hockey League, and she were both a leading scorer and would fight anybody who messed with her team?  
> “If her choice to play ‘Men’s’ contact hockey, while other women like Thayet feel right playing with ‘Women’s’ non-contact rules, were a personal preference that has little to do with sex, gender, or some governing body’s valued judgements of the abilities associated therewith?  
> “If Kel were a hulking teenage defenseman, betting her future on someone taking another Girl?  
> “My favorite thread of Pierce’s books—that who you are grows up with the friends you have supporting you—became Kel sharing locker rooms and trying to manage some winning with friends and strangers and Jorens while the world and media are loudly watching, and Alanna’s legendary broken friendship with linemate-and-rival Alex?”
> 
> And then I did not sleep on the idea. I just started sketching, and that’s a lot like giving the three-legged baby raccoon you found a name.
> 
> We’ll be winding our way through this in two parts: one the coherent story through Kel's life, and one for my notes on the translation of various pieces—some little facts that it might help you get into the spirit of things to know about, and also my thought-process on Metaphors.
> 
> (Since it was pointed out to me that I can’t have Alanna try to prove Roger is Evil by clobbering him with a with a hockey stick, having Duke Baird’s sons die in any directly hockey-related way that compels Neal to follow them would be strange and tacky, and Joren would neither not get drafted just because he had an assault record, nor suffer a spontaneous stroke if he weren’t.  
> Metaphors!)


End file.
